Akki Marketing

Lemon Laws.

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Lemon Laws:

“Lemon” is a nick name for laws related to Cars and Machines.

Law Lemons are laws related to automobiles i.e., Cars. It is law by United States of America and it facilitates a solution for cars owners when machines to not satisfy to meet the required standards and minimum required criteria.

So these types of Machines are so called Lemons.

Lemons Laws are not similar in every state.

It changes from state to State and may not cover used

Or hired vehicles.

Domains

2010-11-28T06:03:00.000-08:00

Domains provide a position for persons all over and they business and company which they run to get registered a new web address.

It includes many things like starter web page, web address, forwarding facility is also provided by some domains.

People are also allowed to re-delegate or transfer their domain name if they wish to. Transfer of domain to a new holder also depends on creditability of domain and reliability of user. If the domain name is transferred then new holder of domain is solely responsible for managing it.

Love, Thanks Giving and Gift cards

2010-11-27T17:52:00.000-08:00

Thanks Giving is a day when we pray to God for whatever we are and for everything he has Given Us. Love and Gifts are usually things which are memorised to express love. Gift cards are always used to make our girl smile. To keep her happy and always smiling. Flowers are used to make her cherished and keep her happy. Thanks Giving is celebrated only in some countries. It is harvest festival celebrated in USA and Canada. In USA, it is celebrated on end of November and in Canada it is celebrated on Second Monday of October. Thanks Giving was First celebrated in Florida in 1565 by Robyn Gioia and Michael Gannon.

FOREX

2010-11-26T04:47:00.000-08:00

Dealing in stocks in Indian market, especially in Mumbai is every minute scenario.Reliance is the head of all the companies in India. Share like RNRL, RPL,Reliance Power are the one which majority of people invest and trade in them on regular basis. 2009 stock market crunch was too terifying where Nifty crashed and Stock Index which rose to 21000 , came directly down at 9000. Huge losses all over and this price crunches led many people to leave stock markets. Reliance is considered as a stock belonging to A group. After a year finally in 2010 now market is improving and hope stock market will soon grow. Along with NASDAQ and many others.

CRM practices adopted by Indian banks

2010-10-22T08:53:00.002-07:00

Bibliography

Aldlaigan, A., Buttle, F., (2005), “Beyond satisfaction: customer attachment to retail banks”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 349-59.

Auh, S., Johnson, M.D., (2005), "Compatibility effects in evaluations of satisfaction and loyalty", Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 26, pp.35-57.

Babakus, E., Eroglu, S., Yavas, U., (2004), “Modeling consumers’ choice behavior: an application in banking”, Journal of Service Marketing, Vol. 18, No. 6, pp. 462-70.

Barnes, J., (2001), “Secrets of Customer Relationship Management: Its All About How You Make Them Feel”, Mc Graw Hill.

Bergeron, B., (2002), “Essentials of CRM - A Guide to CRM”, John Wileg & sons, Inc, New York.

Berry, L.L (1995), “Relationship marketing of services – growing interest, emerging perspectives”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 23, No.4, pp.236-245.

Brown, S.A., (2000), “CRM: A strategic Imperative in the word of e-Business”, John Wileg & Sons Canada Ltd.

Butscher, S.A. (2002), “Customer Loyalty Programmes and Clubs”, Gower Publishing, Ltd.

Dyché, J. (2002), “The CRM Handbook: A Business Guide to Customer Relationship Management”, Addison-Wesley Professional, Massachusetts.

Fisher, C., (2004), “Researching and writing a dissertation for business students”, Pearson Education Edition.

Girishankar, S. (2000), “Companies want CRM tools to manage business relationships”, Information Week, No.17, pp.65.

Gummesson, E. (2004), "Return on relationships (ROR): the value of relationship marketing and CRM in business-to-business contexts", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol.19 No. 2, pp. 136-148.

Hennig-Thurau, T., Hansen, U. (2000), “Relationship Marketing: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Customer Satisfaction and Customer”, Springer

Kaynak, E., Harcar, T.D., (2005), “American consumers’ attitudes towards commercial banks - A comparison of local and national bank customers by use of geo-demographic segmentation”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 73-89.

Kincaid, J.W. (2003), “Customer Relationship Management: Getting it Right!”, Prentice-Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Kotler, P. and Keller, K. L. (2006), Marketing management (12th Ed.), Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.

Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Saunders, J., Wong, V. (2001), “Principles of Marketing”, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Kotorov R. P. (2002), "Ubiquitous organization: organizational design for e-CRM", Business Process Management Journal; Vol.8 No. 3, pp. 218-232.

Levesque, T., McDougall, G.H., (1996), “Determinants of customer satisfaction in retail banking”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 14, No. 7, pp. 12-20.

Molina, A., Martin-Consuegra, D., Esteban, Á. (2007), "Relational benefits and customer satisfaction in retail banking", International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 25 No.4, pp.253-71.

Parasuraman, A., Berry, L.L., Zeithaml, V.A., (1991), “Understanding customer expectations of service”, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 39-48.

Parvatiyar, A., Sheth, J.N. (2001), “Customer relationship management: emerging practice, process, and discipline”, Journal of Economic & Social Research, Vol. 3 No.2, pp.1-34.

Payne, A., Frow, P., (2005), "A Strategic Framework for Customer Relationship Management", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 69 No. 4, pp. 167-176.

Porter, M.E. (1980), “Competitive Strategy”, Free Press

Reichheld, F.F., Sasser, W.E. (1990), “Zero defections: quality comes to services”, Harvard Business Review.

Reynolds, J. (2002), “A Practical Guide to CRM”, CMP Books, NY.

Roig, J.C.F.R., Garcia, J.S., Tena, M.A.M., Monzonis, J.L., (2006), “Customer perceived value in banking services”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 266-83.

Saunders, M., Lewis P. and Thornhill, A., (2007), “Research Methods for Business Students”, Pitman Publishing.

Sharp, D.E. (2002), “Customer Relationship Management Systems Handbook”, CRC Press

Swift, R.S. (2001), “Accelerating Customer Relationships Using CRM and Relationship Technologies”, Prentice-Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Tamminga, P., O'Halloran, P. (2000), “Finding the real value in CRM: leveraging IT solutions through the customer driven approach”, Cutter IT Journal, Vol. 13, No.10, pp.4-11.

Trepper, C. (2000), “Match your CRM tool to your business model”, Information Week, No.15 May, pp.74-6.

Van Bennekom, F.C., Blaisdell, M. (2000), “How broad how deep: lessons from a CRM implementation”, Cutter IT Journal, Vol. 13, No.10, pp.12-16.

Xu, M., Walton, J., (2005), "Gaining customer knowledge through analytical CRM", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol.105 No.7, pp. 955-971.

Xu, Y., Yen, D., Lin, B., Chou, D. (2002), “Adopting customer relationship management technology”, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 102, No.8, pp.442-52.

Zineldin, M. (2000), TRM, Studentliteratur, Lund, Sweden.

Zineldin, M., (1995), “Bank-company interaction, and relationships: some empirical evidence”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 30-40.

Zineldin, M., (1996), “Bank strategic positioning and some determinants of bank selection”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 14, No. 6, pp. 12-22.

Zineldin, M., (2005), “Quality and customer relationship management (CRM) as competitive strategy in the Swedish banking industry”, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 329-44.

CRM practices adopted by Indian banks

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Research method:

Research strategy: There is a choice of six Research- strategies from which the researcher can choose any. These are Survey, Case Study, Grounded Theory, Ethnography, Action research and experiment (Saunders et al., 2007). The researcher has decided to adopt the survey strategy, since this method is recommended when it is impossible to target the entire universe (Fisher, 2004). Apart from that, this is a convenient and easy method and does not require too much of time or money. In any case, the restraints of time and money available to the researcher compel him to use the survey method as part of his research strategy.

Sampling: Two important sources will be tapped for collecting the primary data. These would be employees handling the CRM processes of the banks, and the customers. Non-random snowball sampling method will be used for selecting the sample of employees. The respondents would be asked to give reference of the bank officers in other banks. Researcher proposes to interview at least five offices from different banks. The managerial level employees of both the nationalized and the private sector banks, particularly those involved with the implementation of CRM practices will be used as the sample unit.

Customers will form the second source of primary data. Customers will be surveyed with the intention of determining their appreciation of the CRM activities and how they influence the customers’ level of satisfaction. Customers of five different banks in Mumbai will be approached for the purpose of the survey. These customers will be approached right at the entrance of the bank’s branch. Sample will be selected on the basis of non random purposive sampling technique.

Data collection: The researcher proposes to collect both the primary data as well as the secondary data for this study. Two sources will be tapped for primary data. For this purpose a structure questionnaire will be prepared for obtaining the responses of the customers. The employees of the banks will be interviewed on the basis of an interview schedule. Both open-ended and closing questions will be included in the same. The questionnaire and interview schedule will be completed by the researcher on the basis of the responses given by the customer and the bank offices. Various books, reports, magazines and journals will be studied for collecting the secondary data, since secondary data refers to published or collected for published information collected for purposes other than the current research.

Data analysis: Quantitative data collected from the survey of the customers will be analyzed by tabulating the data, while no statistical method will be used for analyzing the qualitative data collected through the interviews of the bank officers.

Validity and reliability: The researchers will perform some specialized tasks to enhance the reliability of the data. First, the researcher will pilot test the questionnaire drafted for the customers with a selected few of them. This will enable the researcher to identify any flaws in the questionnaire which can be rectified before using the questionnaire for a debate data collection. This will ensure that information collected is of good quality. The data will be collected personally by the researcher and this will also contributes to enhancing its reliability. The different banks in various parts of Mumbai will be approached by the researcher to contact researchers from as diverse background as possible. This is done to improve the validity of the data.

Access: Primary date will be collected from two sources. Interviews will be conducted on the managerial level staff of banks. Some of the research is relatives are working in different banks, which will enable him to access these banks. The researcher proposes to cut back these offices to apprise them of the objectives and intentions of the study and to set up appointments for the interviews. After the interview is over the respondents will be asked for further references. This will facilitate his access to required number of bank officers. The researcher will contact the customers when they approach the bank. There will be an introduction letter attached to the questionnaire to explain the objectives of the research.

CRM practices adopted by Indian banks

2010-10-22T08:52:00.002-07:00

Management and marketing strategy is particularly targeted towards attaining a competitive edge in the marketplace (Kotler et al., 2001). This enables the organization to offer outstanding quality and value to the customers vis-à-vis the offerings of the competitors. According to Porter (1980), competitive advantage can be acquired in two ways. It could be either through identifying a cost effective supply source or by packaging the service offerings and an irresistible manner. This requires out-of-the-box thinking on the part of the service provider so that its presence can be felt in the market as well as provides its scope and opportunity to grow better than its competitors. It is paramount for the banks to understand it is not possible for a single bank to offer the total and complete range of products and services and achieve the highest rank for all customers. This appreciation has compared to the banks to present innovative concepts for acquiring the competitive edge as well as for enhancing the quality of their products and services (Zineldin, 1996).

Traditional banking systems have passed through a stable market scenario for a long time. However, the aggressive competitive setup of the market has shaken the banks out of their complacence. Ultimately, as suggested by Zineldin (1995), trends indicate that as a result of intense competition and new legislations, the intra-country dealings of the traditional banking organizations have been severely hit by the non-banking organizations which have joined the fray. It is evident that competition would be a key factor affecting survival in the market. Banks have increasingly realized that maintaining their position and more importantly surviving the competition is the key to ensuring their continuous run of profitability and its basic existence. However, the competitive environment does not threaten them since they are aware that most of the new entrants are vulnerable to competition and maybe by wiped out from the market soon.

It is important to understand the determinants of quality before evaluating relationships in the context of quality, positioning and productivity (Zineldin, 2000). It stands to reason than that the intangible dimensions of service quality can be enhanced only by incurring higher expenses. Even then it is likely that service quality may not be clearly perceptible due to the lack of definition of the intangible aspects of service. This is the cause of concern for many banks.

This underscores the fact that only an experience can make it possible to appreciate quality. Customer relations and quality are the two significant elements which can put any business in a tight spot when it comes to the question of measuring their economic and business impact (Trepper, 2000). It is possible to address the issue of evaluation by adding tangible attributes to dimensions like competitive positioning, client relationship and quality. Positioning refers to the various dimensions aimed at addressing the expectations and requirements of the consumers accompanied by a range and quality of services in the competitive marketing.

CRM practices adopted by Indian banks

2010-10-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

Brief Literature Review

It is evident that the aggressive environment of contemporary competition requires organizations to ensure the satisfaction of its customers through extraordinary quality products and services. Keeping in view the intense competition regarding economic services, it stands to reason that quality is the leveraging factor. Banks are faced with immense challenges regarding the handling and management of service quality. With this perspective, it is widely being accepted that relationship marketing has the potential of addressing the various value propositions and can enable the banks to add greater value for satisfying the needs of the customers (Roig et al., 2006).

Molina et al. (2007) argued that it is important to understand the customer’s perspective regarding relationships. Customers bear no critical relationship with the organization as a whole. Nevertheless, customer has certain attachments with the different individuals involved in the service organization (Aldlaigan and Buttle, 2005). Therefore, banks can successfully fulfill the requirements and the demands of his customers through the staff members interacting with such customers. Kaynak and Harcar (2005) emphasize that customer’s interactions with the employees of the bank survey as the basis for evaluating the bank on the whole. Hence, characteristics of the employees like their amiability, skills, knowledge, conviviality and sensitivity serve as the basis for creating a positive opinion about the services provided by the employees of the organization (Bergeron, 2000).

Clearly, this is a relevant factor for emphasizing on planning and strategizing in the context of relationship management in order to address the aspirations of the customers. It is imperative for the companies to understand the requirements and expectations of its customers and to do the very best for delivering maximum value to the targeted customers. The most important question, therefore, is what system can be employed to provide maximum value to the customer? Ultimately, value is based on the perception of the customers regarding their dilemmas and personal judgments in the context of the products and services offered by the (Reynolds, 2002). Therefore, a retail bank can enhance the quality of its services by clearly understanding and appreciating the perceptions and values of the customers. There is no doubt that determining the values of the customers in the context of service industry is not easy since these values are a multi-dimensional, intricate and intangible (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; Parasuraman et al., 1991). Moreover, customers may consider financial services belonging to the group of risky services (Babakus et al., 2004).

The apprehensions of the customers regarding the safety of their money raise the question of financial safety. Thus, the researcher would like to keep this in perspective while determining the objective of the research which is to identify the basic intentions and values of consumers in the context of services provided by retail banks, particularly with regard to their responsible management of customer finances. Their perspectives, outlooks, interactions, opinions and expectations would be considered for determining the money related objectives and values.

CRM practices adopted by Indian banks

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Important Definitions:

Kotler and Keller (2006) state that marketing has been defined by the American Marketing Association as "an entire gamut of organizational systems entailing the development, communication and delivery of value to the customers and for manipulating customer relationships for the ultimate benefit of organization and its various stakeholders ".

According to Gummesson (2004), relationship marketing (RM) can be defined as "an organizational function meant to initiate, maintain, improve and conclude relationships with customers and stakeholders where necessary so as to maximize the organizational profit and in keeping with the objectives of all relevant parties in a system of mutually beneficial exchange and keeping of promises". Zineldin (2005) also added that RM appreciates the fact that a steady base of customers is the most significant asset for any organization, since acquiring new customers is costlier than maintaining the existing ones. Concentrating on developing long-term associations with customers spells ultimate success for business. Therefore, customer relationships form the crux of RM.

Van Bennekom and Blaisdell (2000) state that RM literature is replete with information indicating that technology affects the possibility of enhancing the efficiency of different channels through reduction in cost, and helping in establishing more significant and profitable new relationships amongst the various channel partners. Tamminga and O'Halloran (2000) further recommend employing information technology and other non-IT mediums like physical dealings in equal measure to develop fruitful relationships with customers, considering that customers are open to various mediums in their interactions with vendors like face-to-face interactions, telephone, kiosks and other advanced systems like Internet. Clearly, any one of these mediums alone or in combination can be selected for building a relationship with a customer. This allows for customer interaction with the service providers in their preferred ways, since interactions will encourage the customers to build a stronger bond with the service provider – a basic requirement for competitive success of the company in the current business environment (Swift, 2001).

Information technology, particularly the Internet, is widely accepted as a medium for facilitating communication and interaction, thereby making it the most appropriate medium for the management of relationships (Parvatiyar and Sheth, 2001). Berry (1995) contend that a continuous system of interactions and communication can be established through Internet, and therefore, Internet facilitates implementing the CRM systems successfully.

Among the various definitions of CRM, the one given by Payne and Frow (2005) is most appropriate for addressing the objectives of this dissertation:

"CRM refers to methodologies and strategies employed to enhance the value for the shareholders by forging suitable relationships with important customers and customer segments. CRM presents the ultimate system of developing relationship marketing using information technology to establish enduring relationships with various stakeholders including customers. CRM offers greater scope for acquiring significant information about customers so as to involve them in the process of creating value for all concerned. This can essentially be done through integrating cross-functional systems, human resources, functions and marketing proficiencies through the use of information and technology and its appropriate applications.''

Sharp (2002) present a popular classification of CRM systems highlighting three important categories:

• Operational CRM systems, which are designed to enhance the effectiveness of CRM processes and offer solutions for greater automation of sales force, marketing structure and for call centers for enhancing the effectiveness of customer interactions.

• Analytical CRM systems entail processes for controlling and assessing information about customers in order to better understand their requirements and behavior. Perfect examples of analytical CRM systems are data warehousing and data mining solutions.

• Collaborative CRM systems are involved with the management and integrating the various interaction points and channels of communication with the customer e.g. through telephone, e-mail or via the web.

According to Xu and Walton (2005), the fourth category of classification can be e-CRM which has been put forth by Sap.com (2003) and has been defined as:

“An Internet oriented process for integrating customer relationships through different channels of communication, business functions and stakeholders. E-CRM, therefore, facilitates ordering through Internet, e-mails, and a database of information that can be employed for profiling customers, designing customized services and generating automatic feedback to the e-mail, and automatic assistance”.

The contention put forth by Xu and Walton (2005) is that the CRM systems that many organizations have adopted require operational applications like in the case of contact centers, marketing and sales have grown from on the basis of limited information about the customers which has been collected through the currently applied CRM processes. They also been believes that organizations do not fully understand the analytical implications of CRM.

CRM practices adopted by Indian banks

2010-10-22T08:51:00.001-07:00

Area of interest:

The researcher has chosen the banking industry as his area of interest. Banking industry provides the structure for an economy and its activities and programs influence the overall economy, not just of the country but of other countries as well. Banks are striving hard to acquire new customers, for which they are developing and offering newer concepts. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are being rapidly employed to ensure that there is no loss of existing customers while attempting to lure new customers. The researcher has tried to study the combination of banking and CRM. The researcher’s focus is to examine how the banks in the developing economies like India are embracing the CRM technologies.

Aim of the Research:

This research intends to suggest the principles that a bank can successfully employ to enhance customer satisfaction and reach its ultimate objectives.

Research questions:

The research questions are:

i. Which CRM practices do the Indian banks employ?

ii. Which of the CRM practices adopted by Indian banks can be regarded as most appropriate?

iii. Which packages of products and services can be offered by the banks to develop and maintain relationship with high-value customers?

iv. How can the banking organization enhance its profitability while retaining an edge over its competitors by ensuring satisfaction for its customers?

v. What is the relation between CRM and Profits?

Research gap:

Various researchers have conducted studies to examine the application of CRM systems in banking industry. These have most often been done in the context of UK and USA. There have been very few studies in the context of developing economies such as Malaysia and China. This researcher faced immense difficulties when dealing with the subject in the Indian context. Therefore, the researcher would like his study to be used to fill the gap in the research literature.

CRM practices adopted by Indian banks

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Rationale of the Research:

According to Babakus et al., (2004), the banking industry has undergone massive transformation in the past one or two decades. The range of banking services have extended from traditional services to services that extend beyond banking functions. These include packages relating to loans, insurance and mortgages along with financial and corporate consultancy services, etc. The banks are making strident efforts to maximize the customer base (Aldlaigan and Buttle, 2005). Employees are trained to understand and collect information about their customers through their dealings so that strong relations with clients can be forged for the ultimate profitability of the bank.

As per Kaynak and Harcar (2005) banks are making intense efforts to boost their sales environment so that they can attract customers and services in large droves. For instance, a client who has employed five new sales officers may request for the issue of five new corporate banking cards. The corporate card department of the bank can offer other services like car finance etc. while it is processing the request. At the moment, there is possibility of banks making such offers.

However, in the backdrop of cut-throat competition in the banking industry, it is likely that banks and other firms would be required to come up with interesting groups of ideas to enhance the scope for customer interaction (Levesque and McDougall, 1996). This would enable the bank to create more valuable relationships with their customers, which can help the bank to increase their operations and maximize their profitability merely by offering clusters of services to a few customers and also by cross-selling that products and services. Clearly, it stands to reason that the various departments can enjoy the economic benefits of using common assets, reduced sales cost and ultimately lowering the possibility of risky transactions (Molina et al., 2007).

Definitely, as per Roig et al. (2006), it has not been a piece of cake for banks to hugely alter the system of customer relations and the support functions. It is a constant effort for the banks to keep improving their systems. Evidently, developing the most perfect system of customer relationship management would require intense modifications in the existing systems of sales and marketing, management of database and support structures along with other systems and procedures of the organization.

The obstacles faced by the banks in implementing the desired systems will be studied in the rest of this project. The systems of collecting, managing and exploiting information have been specifically studied.

CRM practices adopted by Indian banks

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Research topic:

To determine the CRM practices adopted by Indian banks to retain existing customers and attract new customers.

Background of the Research:

Barnes (2001) believes that never before has the customer been wooed with such passion. Rapid globalization, deregulation and diversification have created the perfect backdrop for intense competition, and the hard realities of marketing are driving the companies to focus more on customers rather than products. Butscher (2002) believes that the reasons for the present focus of marketing on issues like customer relationship management (CRM) and customer retention are competitive prices, absence of unnecessary regulation and the fickle sense of loyalty amongst customers.

Xu et al. (2002) asserted that approaches like CRM with their intense focus on customer are the new mantra for contemporary businesses. Indeed, software relating to CRM is the most sought after solution for 21^st business century business requirements (Auh and Johnson, 2005). It is evident from the Siebel Systems' bold prediction (See Table 1.1) that CRM is the new buzzword considering that over the next decade businesses would be spending five times more on customer oriented technology solutions than in the previous decade (emarketer.com, 2005).

Table 1.1. Cumulative Spending on Customer Facing Solutions Worldwide, 1998-2014

Babakus et al. (2004) suggests that organizations are being compelled towards adopting technologies like CRM in order to augment their customer retention levels, enhance the satisfaction level of the customers, create better value customers, to derive the most strategic business advantage from CRM systems and to entice new customers. The survey conducted by Sweet (2001-4) between 2001 and 2004 has highlighted the above factors. It also underscored the fact that three factors out of the listed five are more important than the other two. Clearly, it indicates that managers are convinced about the economics of retaining customers than about attracting new ones.

Furthermore, Aldlaigan and Buttle (2005) argued that CRM systems like contact management/ call centers/ data warehousing/ portals/ workflow/ business process management are the popular choices for retention of existing customers and development of new ones.

Therefore, CRM refers to a system for gathering information about customers, to underline their important characteristics, and to design strategic marketing programs on the basis of the information about these characteristics (Dyché, 2002). Kincaid (2003) believes that the term CRM refers to the software, systems and methods of employing Internet options to leverage and manipulate information about the customer to augment the satisfaction of the customers while making sure that the customers return to the organization for further interactions and contribute towards the profitability of the organization (Hennig-Thurau and Hansen, 2000).

According to Girishankar (2000), CRM entails acquiring, analyzing and applying information about the customers in order to generate more business effectively. This is also called Analytical CRM, and Kotorov (2002) believes it offers a complete perspective about the customer i.e. a 360° view. Researchers are convinced that the CRM can be made more analytical. For example, Brown (2000) recommends that CRM systems involve features like e-mail, online purchase and creating database of information relating to the customer profile in order to provide customized services. Xu et al. (2002) assert that the organizations can enjoy advanced technologies provided by the CRM software to understand the customer behavior so that it can communicate its marketing messages, tailor-made to the requirements of the customers. Clearly, analytical CRM must entail segmenting and profiling customers in a manner that can help to determine customers who are strategically important for the organization in terms of their cost, value and volume. In other words, it must be capable of developing suitable strategies of marketing and promotion according to the segments, thereby enhancing the segment’s customer profitability (Xu & Walton, 2005).

Marketing Plan On Mc Donalds

2010-10-22T08:49:00.003-07:00

References:

Castrogiovanni.G, Justis.R, (1998)” Franchising configurations and

transitions” (JOURNAL OF CONSUMER MARKETING) VOL. 15 NO. 2 1998

(Jones.P, Shears.D, Hillier.P, Clarke-Hill.C( 2002)” Customer Perceptions of Services

Brands: A Case Study of the Three Major Fast Food Retailers in the UK” (Management research news) Volume 25 Number 6/7

Ulgado.F,Lee.M (1997)” Consumer evaluations of fastfood

services: a cross-national comparison” (THE JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING) VOL. 11 NO. 1 1997, pp. 39-52 © MCB UNIVERSITY PRESS 0887-6045

Vignali (2001)”McDonald’s: Think global, act local – the marketing mix” (British Food Journal) Vol. 103 No. 2, 2001, pp. 97-111

Kara.A, Kaynak.E, Kucukemiroglu.O (1997) “Marketing strategies for fast-food restaurants:a customer view” (British Food Journal )99/9 [1997] 318–324

Markatos.G (2006) “TIME AND COMPETITION IN THE FAST FOOD INDUSTRY:THE CASE OF McDONALDS” (The Cyprus Journal of Sciences), Vol. 4, 2006/177-185

Vijayarani.N (2007), McDonalds Business Analysis http://ezinearticles.com/?McDonalds-Business-Analysis&id=687438

Kotler, P (1998). “Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism”, (2^nd edition)

Marketing Plan On Mc Donalds

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Place –

McDonald’s understands the importance of growth in the International market and plans to take advantage from the past experiences. For example, they used to add 300-400 restaurants a year in America no matter what the circumstances. This strategy created a gap between the competitor and them. It is now that they realize that they could have built more restaurants at such times when the competition was not so great. McDonald’s followed the strategy of globalization and still stands as a best example of “glocal” focus as they can now share ideas and practices across the border which helps with this competitive advantage and also strengthens its leadership position.

Price –

“Company has realized that despite the cost saving inherent and standardization success can often be attributed to being able to adapt to a specific environment. McDonalds has had to select right price for the right market. Highest comparative price for the big Mac is that of our own country, the UK.” (Vignali: 2001)

Promotion –

Promotion consists of 5 major tools according Kotler (1994), advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, public relations and publicity and personal selling. With the use of all these tools, McDonald’s localizes its marketing communication strategy to reduce the range of cultural or other differences that McDonald’s could face while entering any country. (Vignali: 2001)

People –

McDonald’s is committed to staff and promotions within which means that they have managers who understands corporate and local culture. For example, there is a Hamburger university in Chicago and its designed for Managers and Assistant managers and prospective franchises who provide trainings in 22 languages. All this is to ensure that the restaurant should always maintain the standards and this also explains globalization. (Vignali: 2001)

Process –

In over 100 countries there are about 25000 McDonald’s restaurants. They have a procedure to make the food identical as they follow standardization world wide. For example, 1 out of 2 fries must measure 75 mm, meat from big mac’s weighs 45 grams and is 20% fat. All the suppliers should meet all these specifications and McDonald’s demands to set them that way and if they cannot do this McDonald’s vertically integrated them. At the same time the procedure for making food in the restaurants is also identical around the world with the same layout of the kitchen considering local adaptation where there is a slight different menu in some countries. (Vignali: 2001)

Physical –

“This is the McDonald’s message in every franchise throughout the world. The customer knows that whatever McDonald’s they enter, the message of a family environment will be conveyed. It just depends on where you are in the world as to how the message is broadcasted. The traditional US value of “service with a smile” is embodied in the staff at all the McDonald’s restaurant throughout the world and is now characterized as an expectation of the McDonald’s consumers. It is these expectations that McDonald’s has to try to continue to keep their competitive advantage in the fast food sector” (Vignali: 2001)

Marketing Plan On Mc Donalds

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“As Thompson (1993) writes in one of his cases to explain what the competitive advantage means and how it can be achieved, McDonalds Company is the leader in its sector for five main reasons” (Markatos: 2006). McDonald’s is global and focuses on opening 500 restaurants every year. Their logo, golden arches is instantly recognizable and is placed in such a way that it’s clearly visible. In addition to this is their commitment to their parent company from the franchise branches and the ownership of real estate sites. Over the past few years they never tried to diversify or tried to sell any other food, but they just keep changing the product like adding breakfast and salads in America or position themselves next to military bases or in hospitals or venturing with companies like Walmart. Hence, there is a flexibility and change in the products as they adapt to different countries by selling appropriate products in each occasion, e.g., bone in fried chicken, McCrispy in Japan, Maharaja Mac Sandwich in India or McO2 in Australia. McDonald’s company earned a competitive advantage (Markatos: 2006).

“McCarthy, 1975 formulated the concept of 4 P’s – product, price, promotion and place marketing mix. For many years these are being used as the principle foundation on which a marketing plan is based. However, with particular attention being given to services marketing in recent years theorists have identified additional variables which could be added to the 4 P’s which is process, physical and people. It is these 7 P’s that will use in analyzing the marketing mix of McDonalds.

Products – features quality, quantity.

Place – location, no. of outlets.

Price – strategy determinant levels.

Promotion – advertising, sales promotion, public relations.

People – quantity, quality, training, promotions

Process – blueprinting, automation, controlled procedures.

Physical – cleanliness, décor, ambience of the service”

(Vignali: 2001)

Products –

McDonald’s focuses on strategy of standardizing all their products which means the taste same whether in Singapore, Spain, India or UK. There is a huge cost saving by adapting standardization but it also helps to adapt in an environment which ensures success. Hence, “think global, act local” has been adopted by McDonalds. For several reasons including tastes and preferences of customers and law and customs adaptation is important. There are many examples where McDonald’s has adapted product because of religious laws and customs in a country. Best example is in Israel where after protest big Macs are served without cheese in several outlets thereby separating meat from dairy products as required by Kosher restaurants. Also, outlets in India serve vegetable mcNuggets and mutton based maharaja Mac instead of beef which is not accepted by Hindus and Muslims do not eat pork. In Malaysia and Singapore, McDonald’s had to go through high level of inspection by Muslim clerics to make sure ritual cleanliness and the restaurant awarded with a HALAL certificate which means it is clean and acceptable to the locals. There are many examples of how McDonalds adapted the original menu to meet the customer’s needs and wants in different countries such as guava juice was added to the menu in tropical countries while beer as well as McCroissants is served in Germany and McSpaghetti in Phillipines.(Vignali, 2001). “McDonald’s have made such a fetish of its deep fried potatoes and continuous to work on improving the delivery of its industry winners” (Vignali, 2001). In terms of quality there is an assurance team which monitors and is responsible for the food products starting from the suppliers until the restaurants. This involves continuous inspections, audits and visits both announced and unannounced to the production facilities, distribution centre’s and to the restaurants. These visits could also extend to secondary suppliers such as farms to monitor the crop. This is a global practice and is one of the distinguishing features of McDonalds as a fast food restaurant. (Vignali: 2001)

Marketing Plan On Mc Donalds

2010-10-22T08:48:00.003-07:00

Customer Satisfaction is becoming an important factor in the fast food restaurant offering. McDonald’s also primary focus is on making the service fast, accurate and efficient. The fast food outlets are been internationalized including cross border transfers and techniques (Kara, Kaynak, Kucukemiroglu: 1997). Putting nutritional value over every meal such as counts for proteins or fats or definitely the calorie counts will increase the sales in certain products too. Thereby people know for sure what is going into their body. “Products and Services geared to consumer interest in health, safety and environment have been playing an increasingly important role in the franchising industry of the 1990’s” (Kara, Kaynak, Kucukemiroglu: 1997). Fastest growing market segment according to the research are Mexican dishes. McDonald’s should think about coming up with a global menu, for example along with the British there is a huge population from other countries such as Asians, Africans, Eastern Europeans, etc. so they could have monthly promotions of one such dish from different countries so that there is always a change in the menu and people are looking forward to what’s coming next. This is a good way of bringing the world food under one roof and this way McDonald’s is attracting a wider range of customers. They could adapt this strategy worldwide even to the Asian countries like India as (Kara, Kaynak, Kucukemiroglu, 1997) “food diversity in India is an implicit characteristics of India’s diversified culture consisting of different regions and states within” (Goyal, Sen: 2007). They could face limitations in different countries such as a substitute for beef and pork with vegetarian menu in India. These limitations can also just help in creating variation in the menu, but in a diversified country like India which is getting influenced by the western culture and these days where people are ready to experiment and try different food willingly this concept of global food menu may turn out to be a great idea. They could combine these ideas with an option of healthy food such as creating a Chinese salad or an Indian style barbeque chicken salad in this way they are opening doors to wide range of customers who are health conscious and do not go to places like McDonald’s only because they believe in eating no junk food. McDonald’s has always targeted children and youngsters. There is a belief and research shows that an average American child eats potatoes in the form of fries as one of the only few vegetables in their diet.

“McDonald’s targets at different segments of the market especially young children which constitutes the future and loyal customers” (Markatos: 2006). McDonald’s have always targeted young children for example, giving away toys with happy meals is one of their biggest attractions for the kids. Also, lot of McDonald’s vicinity has a playing area just for the kids. Parents like to get their kids to such places as they could have a peaceful meal while the kid is right in front of them playing in the playing area. This also gives a good chance for the kids to learn to socialize with other kids of their age. Distributing random balloons is a good marketing strategy for McDonald’s and a good attraction to the kids. Now, by serving healthy food they also get a chance to target the segment which they did not focus much before i.e., the adults. In this way they will get customers of different ethnic backgrounds but also different age grou

Marketing Plan On Mc Donalds

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Marketing Objectives: “It is accepted that fast-food marketing strategies should have a sound understanding of consumers’ perceptions of and preferences for fast-food outlets and how they differ across cultures/countries. This understanding can be helpful in targeting countries/cultures to promote fast food and improving or amending their restaurants’ perceptions so that customer demand can be increased. If countries/cultures differ widely in their perceptions of and preferences for a fast-food

Restaurant, promotional campaigns tailored to individual countries/cultures may be

called for.”( Ulgado,Lee 1997) McDonalds is in more than 100 countries as of now with around 20,000 outlets around the world. They have taken the approach of globalization where they provide same food everywhere. But there suppliers are local hence to countries like India, they do not serve beef burgers but a replacement to that which also suits the locals in that country. McDonalds has adapted this strategy very tactfully. “Recently, the notion that processed convenience foods are contributing to an obesity epidemic has led to litigation proceedings against McDonald’s. At the same time, a number of fast-food companies and food manufacturers have reviewed the fat and sugar contents of their product ranges, and reconsidered the size of the portions they offer”. (Schroder, McEachern; 2005) McDonalds is a fast food chain restaurant and none of these food chains are meant to be healthy but these days with the increasing child obesity and generally people suffering from this problem, one of selling point McDonalds could think about doing is start a complete healthy range of products. Due to the global expansion of fast food market which has also saturated the US market there was a high rise in the multi- national fast food corporations. Due to which a lot of attention is on such companies and their contribution to the public opinion (Breeze and Cairns, 2003). “As the product ranges of most UK fast-food outlets (e.g. McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Wimpy) are mainly centred on meat, this introduces a further issue associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR), namely, animal welfare. Many organisations (e.g. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)) target global fast-food retailers to draw attention to welfare issues surrounding animal production systems. Another socially relevant issue surrounding fast-food retailing is the littering of public spaces (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, 2003). Powerful global companies provide an attractive focus for socio-political complaints and campaigns” (Schroder, McEachern; 2005) But to start with McDonalds should really look at promoting healthy food such as they should promote some salads. Everyone knows that McDonalds is all about burgers fries and coke, people need not know that anymore. McDonalds can completely stop promoting their burgers and fries and start promoting their new salads in a big way. All their advertisements should be about the new range of salads they will introduced and make a launching day so much special and public that people cant wait to get their hands on these salads from day one. This could be a great marketing strategy for them, as people these days are becoming too health conscious but there are not many fast food places who serve healthy food as well. McDonalds could also start a campaign nationwide and include their customers in it. This could be to support a cause in the form of charity where if the customers buy a certain meal, a certain amount would go to a charity. They could start awareness for global warming. Any company which supports a huge cause that the world is facing problems with such as global warming or obesity, people like to a support such cause and also everyone likes to be a part of a team as the idea of being team player is always fulfilling. There idea of happy meal with a toy is a big hit. Kids just go there to get those toys. They could start serving frozen yogurt for the kids with fresh berries and fruits and nuts with them. When a parent knows the child has an option of a healthy food which is also a junk food, parents will be more than willing to get their kids back to McDonalds. Unlike any other company McDonalds should really make it public of how they are taking measures in making sure that they are giving back to the world. This is something which none of the fast food chains have ever done, something really out of the box to think of, but again, taking into consideration to rise way above the competition, there has to be something very drastic and different which no other fast food company has ever tried.

Marketing Plan On Mc Donalds

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McDonalds (Marketing plan - phase 2)

“The UK fast-food market is worth an estimated £7.82 billion annually (Keynote, 2003),

amounting to an average spend of £20/month per adult (McDonald, 2003). Due to busier consumer lifestyles and dual-working families with children, emphasis is increasingly being placed on quick meal solutions (Atkins and Bowler, 2001). This has

resulted in a market growth of 19 per cent in fast food since 1998 (Keynote, 2003). UK

consumers tend to regard convenience and wholesomeness as polar opposites, rather

than a complementary type of food value (Jack et al., 1997, 1998). Moreover, a greater volume of fast food is consumed in the UK than in any other country in Europe (Schlosser, 2001).” (Schroder, McEachern; 2005)

“There are a wide variety of elements in the UK’s retail catering industry but fast food is perhaps the most prominent, the most dynamic and the most rapidly growing. While there are variations in the specific styles adopted by the fast food operators a number of general defining characteristics can be identified. Fast food outlets offer a simple and fairly restricted menu within a carefully controlled operating system. A variety of burgers in a bun, fried chicken, french fries and to a lesser extent pizza and baked potatoes provide the main course. Typical desserts are ice cream and fruit pies and the drinks range includes milk shakes, fizzy drinks and tea and coffee. Customers queue up to be served at a counter, the aim being to serve a large number of people with the minimum of waiting time and most operators look to serve customers within three minutes of their entry onto the premises. The food is sold in disposable packaging without cutlery. Some operators offer facilities for customers to consume their food on the premises while others tend to cater more for the take-away trade”. (Jones, Shears, Hillier, Clarke-Hill, 2002)

Marketing Plan On Mc Donalds

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References

Castrogiovanni.G, Justis.R, (1998)” Franchising configurations and

transitions” (JOURNAL OF CONSUMER MARKETING) VOL. 15 NO. 2 1998

(Jones.P, Shears.D, Hillier.P, Clarke-Hill.C( 2002)” Customer Perceptions of Services

Brands: A Case Study of the Three Major Fast Food Retailers in the UK” (Management research news) Volume 25 Number 6/7

Ulgado.F,Lee.M (1997)” Consumer evaluations of fastfood

services: a cross-national comparison” (THE JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING) VOL. 11 NO. 1 1997, pp. 39-52 © MCB UNIVERSITY PRESS 0887-6045

Vignali (2001)”McDonald’s: Think global, act local – the marketing mix” (British Food Journal) Vol. 103 No. 2, 2001, pp. 97-111

Kara.A, Kaynak.E, Kucukemiroglu.O (1997) “Marketing strategies for fast-food restaurants:a customer view” (British Food Journal )99/9 [1997] 318–324

Markatos.G (2006) “TIME AND COMPETITION IN THE FAST FOOD INDUSTRY:THE CASE OF McDONALDS” (The Cyprus Journal of Sciences), Vol. 4, 2006/177-185

Vijayarani.N (2007), McDonalds Business Analysis http://ezinearticles.com/?McDonalds-Business-Analysis&id=687438

Kotler, P (1998). “Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism”, (2^nd edition)

Marketing Plan On Mc Donalds

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Environmental Analysis:

McDonalds is company which is globally expanding on a fast track, but it has faced a lot of problems like legislations and the political stability in which ever country they wanted to choose to open an outlet. In any country they want to enter it is their duty to consider all rules regarding cross contamination and other concerns such as environment, religious limitations. For example, while entering UK, any company cannot sell alcohol as it’s against the law, unlike countries like Greece. “Police chiefs in Birmingham, central England, have

issued officers with vouchers to eat at McDonald's, in an effort to increase their

visibility and save time in walking or driving back to the staff canteen”, (Johnson,

2002). The company has also released their report of the social responsibilities and the various steps company takes to taking environment and society into consideration. This is a sensitive issues to the company especially in the less developed countries. The company has also started campaigns to support charities such as UNICEF.

Technology wise the company is bound or rather forced to be better or moderately developed depending on its growth or the market share in which they are in competition with. This happens not just due to high production but also due to number of different products which they produce. All of this is just to maintain the competitive advantage and to make sure company has a good name in terms of fast service which is also efficient at the same time, which is in a healthy environment with not much skilled staff and the equipments doing most of the work. (Markatos, 2006)

McDonalds S.W.O.T Analysis

Strengths • Brand Equity…world-wide • 42% of US fast-food hamburger business • Consistency of food • Successful items: Fries, Happy Meal, Big Mac, Egg McMuffin, Promotions • Overseas market • Balance sheet position	Weaknesses: • Declining market share • Weak product development • Disgruntled franchisees • Quality and taste of products
Opportunities: • International expansion • Only serving 1% of the world’s population • Growing dining-out market	Threats: • Mature/overstored industry • Strength of competition • More health-conscious consumers • Changing demographics • Fluctuation of foreign exchange rates; Economies

(Markatos, 2006)

Marketing Plan On Mc Donalds

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Customer Analysis

“A major trend in the USA and Canada and in most of the industrial world is that more

People are eating meals outside their homes. It is predicted that this trend will accelerate in the future. As a result, fast food markets will offer greater growth opportunities for marketers. Presents consumers’ perceptions and preferences for fast-food is increasing for restaurants in the USA and Canada.”(Kara, Kaynak,, Kucukemiroglu, 1997) Understanding of customer perceptions of service quality and value is especially important to international service firms because such perceptions

are susceptible to cultural differences. In countries with different cultures,

tastes and living habits US service companies need to be aware and adaptive

to local needs. (Ulgado,Lee 1997)Customer’s perception of most these fast food companies such as McDonalds, Burger King, KFC etc is “Good cheap food” which fits every lifestyle including students. ”Real treat for the family and it is very good value” “If you are taking the kids out it makes sense” and some people have said “its not the food but the kids want to go there” Customers like going to these fast places only because they have made it convenient for their consumers where in they can eat in or take away or drive through. (Jones, Shears, Hillier, Clarke-Hill, 2002)

Competitor Analysis

McDonalds is on the first franchising company in the world with sales more than $31.81 billions. The biggest competitor of McDonalds as of now is Burger king which follows the sales of $9.01 billions. (Kotler et al, 1998) The strength of McDonalds has always been standardization where the company has provided same consistency of the products where their burgers taste the same everywhere. It has been targeting the children and teenagers, which later become their future loyal customers. “The well technologically developed H.V.A.C systems provided the company restaurants with a healthy environment” (Markatos, 2006) one another capability of this company is that the company can afford a huge budget of marketing and advertising their campaigns around the world. (Markatos, 2006)

Internal Analysis

The staff in McDonalds are usually young people generally students that work as part timers. The main disadvantage in this would be the major turnover of but it can be balanced as the expenses in training the new employees in limited. Also all the raw material the company uses for the production of the items in their menu come from different suppliers. These companies for eg McDonalds try to use local suppliers just so that they could meet the needs of the customers when in different countries. The best example would her be India, as in India selling or eating of beef is banned due to religious issues. So they had to look for a local supplier to find an alternative. (Markatos. 2006)

Marketing Plan On Mc Donalds

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McDonalds (Marketing plan – Phase 1)

Executive Summary

Past few decades franchising has flourished into a major business form. Over one third of retail sales of USA is through franchises like McDonalds, Burger king, KFC etc. 20 percent of US national economy is based of franchising. This concept is not only expanding everywhere in US but has crossed borders to benefit globally. This is a fast growing industry past many years and this is helping the global economy in a big way. (Castrogiovanni, Justis, 1998)

No particular competitive strategy is guaranteed to achieve success at all times. Risk attitudes can change and vary by industry volatility and environmental uncertainty and several internal conditions also might be involved. Thus the “four P’s” of marketing (product, price, place and promotion) provide a good starting point for consideration of the requirements of strategy implementation in the marketing function. The mix of these marketing elements should be appropriate and the plans for each of the elements should also be appropriate. (Vijayarani, 2007)

Market Analysis:

Customers needs in a serving quality and value is most important aspect in the fast food industry. It is especially most important when the company is involved internationally as such perceptions then later form opinions of a company and also can lead to cultural differences at the same time. When a company decides to go internationally, there are lot of aspects that need to be taken into consideration. This difference could be in living habits and taste of food with in different countries. The services industry should be well aware and should be willing to adaptive to the local needs In the country they enter. (Hofstede, 1980; Prahalad and Doz,1987).

To give a background of McDonalds, two brothers came up with the restaurant with the name of “McDonalds” in 1937. This place was a very small around Pasadena, California. In the year 1954 Ray Krok who was a milk shake mixer salesman bought this restaurant from the brothers as he saw an opportunity in the market and negotiated a deal giving him exclusive rights to franchise McDonalds in USA. The key to all the success of McDonalds is its concept of franchising to local people. McDonalds now has over 20,000 restaurants in over 100 countries and around 80% are franchises.
(Vignali, 2001).

The fast food industry in US and Canada has become saturated and are in competition with each other sharing the market rather than going for new growth. These fast food companies are aiming for growth by looking into international markets in America these fast food restaurant chains are expanding more into international market over domestic. In such situations and growing competition in the domestic market companies such as McDonalds, Wendy’s, KFC and dominos have expanded internationally. There is a lot of potential in franchising in the international market for fast food and it is also identified in smaller food service companies. In countries like Hong Kong, Belgium, Brazil china market is growing for these fast food chains. There is huge profit potential in European and Asian countries for these companies. (Jones, Shears, Hillier, Clarke-Hill, 2002)

Marketing Plan On Alfa Romeo

2010-10-19T05:18:00.001-07:00

REFERENCES:

Australian Government – Department of Innovation Industry, Science and Research. 2008, ‘A new car plan for a greener future’, pp 1-30
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. ‘About Australia – people, culture and lifestyle’ March 2008 http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/people_culture.html.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. ‘About Australia – a global economy’ April 2008 http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/people_culture.html.
Kotler, G, Brown, L, Burton, S, Deans, K, Amstrong, G. 2010, Marketing 8e, Pearson Australia, Frenchs Forest.
n.d. ‘Alfa Romeo 2009 company profile edition 2’ n.d. available at http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activitiesmanagement /financial/13378831-1.html
n.d. ‘Alfa Romeo brings style and performance to a new market sector in New Zealand’ 2008 available at http://www.alfaromeo.co.nz/News/Vehicles/Alfa-MiTo/Alfa-Romeo-MiTo-NZ-Launch/default.aspx
n.d, ‘Alfa Romeo Australia – Dealers’ n.d. available at http://www.alfaromeo.com.au/default.asp?action=article&ID=21586
n.d. ‘Alfa Romeo D.N.A System’ 2009 available at http://www.alfaromeo.com.au/default.asp?action=article&ID=21728
n.d, ‘Alfa Romeo Australia – Models’ n.d. available at http://www.alfaromeo.com.au/default.asp?action=article&ID=21592#
n.d, ‘Alfa Romeo History’ n.d. available at http://www.alfaromeo.com.au/default.asp?action=article&ID=17556
n.d, ‘Enzo Ferrari – biography’ n.d. available at http://en.redinfocus.com/History/Enzo-Ferrari-Biography/ (05 March 2010)
n.d, ‘Phillip Island Photo Opportunity 14 March’ n.d. available at http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/
n.d, ‘Juan Manuel Fangio’ n.d. available at

http://www.formula1.com/teams_and_drivers/hall_of_fame/268/

Marketing Plan On Alfa Romeo

2010-10-19T05:17:00.005-07:00

RECOMMENDATIONS WITH IMPLEMENTATION PLAN:

· Ensure Alfa Romeo dealerships are there in all the most important cities within the next year.

· Ensure each dealer is active towards the promotion of the brand by supporting him.

· Promote the Alfa Romeo brand during the Formula1 race in Albert Park, Melbourne and associate them with the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team that is supported by Fiat. Showcase the key models at the race. This promotion has to be done for 3 consecutive years to promote the brand.

· Similar promotions can be done at the MOTO GP races held at Phillip Island and associate them with last year’s title winning Fiat Yamaha Motogp team that is supported by Fiat. This promotion has to be done for 3 consecutive years.

· Ensure the right amount of stock levels at the dealerships our strategic stocking points.

· Provide right training for the sales staff of the dealers, so that a good impression is created during the test drive that is requested by the customer.

Organise at least two big events for the Alfa Romeo owners by supporting the Alfa Romeo owners club. Events similar to the one being organised in Phillip Island on March 13&14 2010 has to be organised at least twice a year in two different location that are the best performing.

Marketing Plan On Alfa Romeo

2010-10-19T05:17:00.003-07:00

PRICING STRATEGY:

Price of a product is very important and determines the demand for the same. The Alfa Romeo MiTo, being new to the Australian car market and considering the pedigree of the Alfa Romeo brand and the world class product itself, we should define the price using the Value based pricing logic with sensitivity towards the cost based pricing logic since this is not a mass market.

Its nearest competitor is the Mini cooper being sold via the BMW network. It is very important to have the price very close to a similarly equipped Mini. The value proposition for the said costs has to be well communicated to the prospective customers. The finally defined cost should cover all the internal costs that have been incurred towards the development of the MiTo.

PROMOTION STRATEGIES:

‘Sales promotions are tools that are used to make an immediate sale by influencing customer perceptions and behaviour and to build market share’ (Kotler et all, 2010, p. 478)

There are number of methods of sales promotions. For the Alfa Romeo MiTo, sales promotions are to be done by offering free test rides, patronage rewards, point-of-purchase incentives and event marketing.

Competing in the premium small car market, prospective customers can be offered free test drives that they can book via the internet or telephone. The car can be brought to their door step for a free test drive. This would also give us the opportunity personal selling.

Value differentiation can be done by having get-togethers for Alfa Romeo owners at scenic spots away from their day to day activities. This would promote the unique driving experience that is provided by the MiTo. Rewards can also be provided to retain the customer when he chooses to change his Alfa Romeo by offering discounts on his next upgrade model available on the Alfa Romeo range.

Point-of-purchase incentives are provided to instantly make the sale. Offering free insurance, extended warranty etc could be offered to make the sale once the customer has shown interest in the MiTo. These offers are to be used judiciously.

Traditionally Alfa Romeo has not out sold its competitors. All the Alfa Romeo cars have received positive comments from its customers.

Alfa Romeo has that racing heritage and heritage of famous personalities attached to it. Hence it is very important to communicate these virtues completely to the prospective customers. Alfa Romeo is a part of the Fiat group of automobiles which supports the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team in Formula1 racing and the Fiat Yamaha team in MOTOGP. Both high profile teams and winners of titles in their respective series in the recent past and are expected to be title contenders this current year. Leveraging Fiat’s involvement with these teams and having promotional campaigns at these races would help communicate effectively the racing pedigree of the brand. This would further improve the brand value in the mind of the customers.

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES:

It is very important to have enough stock so as to cater to the customer. Sales volumes of the MiTo are not going to be high and all Alfa Romeo cars are manufactured in Italy, hence it is very important to maintain the correct levels of inventory. Inventory is equivalent to money. Only when the inventory is sold there is revenue for the company.

The Alfa Romeo MiTo being a niche product there is a considerable amount of customisation that is provided as options to the customers. The cars with all the critical and standard components and the outer shell can be assembled in Italy. The interior options can be stocked at selected points to service the dealers. It is not necessary for all the dealers to stock the MiTo with all the colour options. The fast moving colours should be available with all the dealers where as the slow moving ones can be split and stocked among the dealers and transferred to the specific dealer as the need arises. The interior options that are picked by the customer can be assembled at the dealers point.

The overall objective would be to service the new order from the customer within seven working days after the customer makes the token payment for the delivery of the car.